Althouse: Is kindness really this extraordinary?

July 29, 2011

Is kindness really this extraordinary?

"We couldn't believe what we were seeing?"

35 comments:

Jim at Polimerican.com said...: Unfortunately it is.

The key?

"My parents taught me that way."

Too many parents today don't.; 7/29/11, 10:07 AM
TWM said...: Not in the South, where it's common. But evidently it is at MLB ball games because it seems America's true baseball pasttime is cut-throat ball stealing; 7/29/11, 10:08 AM
Irene said...: This is another example of our era: doing something kind, or slightly more than ordinary, merits extraordinary praise.

And we wonder why kids are upset when the get "Bs."; 7/29/11, 10:16 AM
Curious George said...: Meh. I will say that the Brewer kid was pouting and feeling sorry for himself. Telling that he is at the game with just his mom. The lack of a father's presence (or with some modern fathers with it)in raising young boys leads to them growing up to be pussies. My dad wouldn't have put up with it...no "poor baby" crap. He would have said "You want the ball...get that ball." Life isn't going to give you things in the future. You have to work for it. Well, unless you have a government job.; 7/29/11, 10:17 AM
Scott M said...: First of all, no, it's not extraordinary. Modern mass media makes everyone more cynical than they need to be which precipitates questions like that.

Second of all, that whiny kid needs a beating.; 7/29/11, 10:17 AM
Scott M said...: But evidently it is at MLB ball games because it seems America's true baseball pasttime is cut-throat ball stealing

Good point, although I'd be willing to be more people die at FIFA events than MLB ball chases any day.; 7/29/11, 10:18 AM
edutcher said...: This is presented as unusual only because the Lefties think everybody else lives by the Gospel to Uncle Saul the way they do.

20 years from now, they'll call the kid a bitter clinger.; 7/29/11, 10:19 AM
G Joubert said...: It was a nice thing he did, but they are making way too big of a deal out of it. Autographed bat, throwing out the first pitch, etc. Kinda ruins it.; 7/29/11, 10:24 AM
rhhardin said...: The hype is about viewer audience business model.

Whatever sucks eyeballs in to sell to advertisers goes on the air.; 7/29/11, 10:26 AM
traditionalguy said...: Another Tim Tebow in training.

His must have parents demonstrated to him that life is doing good things and having faith in a good God.; 7/29/11, 10:28 AM
TWM said...: "Good point, although I'd be willing to be more people die at FIFA events than MLB ball chases any day."

True, but it seems MLB games offer additional points for mauling kids while stealing the ball.; 7/29/11, 10:30 AM
MnMark said...: But wait - look at the clip more closely. An adult in a red shirt standing down below has said something to the boy, who stops smiling, and the adult points to the young boy who didn't get the ball, and then the kid comes down and gives the ball to the other kid. Whoever that adult is apparently said something like "that ball was meant for that other kid, you should give it to him" and the boy did as he was told. I don't think this story is quite what they're making it out to be. An adult intervened.; 7/29/11, 10:31 AM
traditionalguy said...: Sorry for my dyslexia. That was supposed to say, " his parents must have demonstrated to him that life is doing good things..."

So why the complaining that the good God was overly generous in return here? Can He not do as he wants with what is His own?; 7/29/11, 10:33 AM
kjbe said...: I find the reaction of the announcers kind of creepy. It's as though they wanted to out-do the kindness of the kid, but missed in a big way.

They couldn't see that the kid seemed content with his luck. The giving away was an afterthought. The story was complete with him just getting the ball.; 7/29/11, 10:34 AM
Chip S. said...: I think the unspoken context of this story is the recent cases of men falling over railings at ballparks. Hyping this is a way of encouraging people to scale back what they're willing to do for a ball.; 7/29/11, 10:48 AM
vza said...: He is a great kid. There are lots of great kids out there who have been raised to be kind and unselfish, we just do not hear about them too often. I'm glad the Diamondbacks made a fuss over him. For the many who saw this happen, or watched the videos, this is a better lesson in empathy and kindness than any sermonizing on the topic.
I sure hope the crying kid learned something from this, and that his mother has him write a thank you note to Ian.; 7/29/11, 10:48 AM
bagoh20 said...: No it is not. I see a lot of similar kindness and sacrifice everyday. There are a lot of good people who do things for others every day and they don't really have a good reason to - it's just who they are.; 7/29/11, 10:51 AM
bagoh20 said...: "Whatever sucks eyeballs in to sell to advertisers goes on the air.",

Sure, but I'm all for this and I think people including the people running the business of baseball have hearts that get tugged at too.

If you just want eyeballs, they can get even more by showing drunken fights and tits, but they wouldn't feel good about that, and I think that does matter to most all of us, even the evil businessman.; 7/29/11, 10:56 AM
Chip S. said...: I see a lot of similar kindness and sacrifice everyday.

How many of those acts did you see on live television?

I see a lot of people violating traffic laws every day, and very few of them get a ticket. Doesn't mean that the ones who do get caught don't deserve one.; 7/29/11, 10:56 AM
alan markus said...: No matter who motivated the young fellow to do what he did, I will put my money on his mother anyday over this lady:

Woman steals a baseball from a young girl; 7/29/11, 11:04 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: In today's world?

You bet your sweet bippy,...; 7/29/11, 11:05 AM
Ned said...: Not really...ignored by liberal media. Good/bad = judgement = BAD; 7/29/11, 11:18 AM
bagoh20 said...: "How many of those acts did you see on live television?

Yea, but that's not my reference point for the state of the civilization. Just imagine if it was how we really are. I don't know anybody like Snookie, and The Situation, but then again, I guess somebody does.; 7/29/11, 11:32 AM
ndspinelli said...: The kid had empathy. Having coached kids for 30 years I came to believe you can't teach empathy. However, you can teach respect..which this kid also has. Nice piece..very nice piece.; 7/29/11, 11:34 AM
Beth said...: "And we wonder why kids are upset when the get "Bs."

Just turned in summer final grades yesterday and already got two emails from college freshmen, asking why oh why did they get a B, followed by a nasty comment on one of those online professor rating sites. This is indeed a generation bottle-fed on self-esteem platitudes.

Still, this kid did a nice thing, and didn't expect what he got in reward.; 7/29/11, 11:39 AM
Michael said...: Unexceptional except among the children of announcers.; 7/29/11, 11:46 AM
Michael said...: Beth: I hope you responded that you gave "B"s out of pity.; 7/29/11, 11:48 AM
Chip S. said...: @bagog20, I understand, and I don't disagree on that. I was using your statement as a way to address the general thread question about whether the attention paid to this kid was unwarranted.

What you say can be true while it's still the case that the kid merits some praise--and a bat & jersey. Especially if his behavior shames people like that bitch in the video linked by alan marcus into shaping up a little.; 7/29/11, 11:49 AM
William said...: Sports are the toy department of life. It's where we go to see fairy tales acted out. Virtue triumphs and goodness is rewarded. From Grantland Rice onward, the corn grows ever higher. This isn't the real world, but it is the world a twelve year old wants to inhabit. It is a fine story with a happy ending.....That story about the father who fell to his death trying to retrieve a ball made the world seem off its axis.; 7/29/11, 12:30 PM
Anonymous said...: That particular form of kindness might be extraordinary--a kid giving a game ball to another kid, but let's not make too much of it. Focusing on him, interviewing him, it cheapens the gesture.; 7/29/11, 1:00 PM
shirley elizabeth said...: The actions of the announcers was normal enough - adults wanting to praise the good they see kids do. It's a natural thing. The news story on it was creepy and pointless though.; 7/29/11, 1:08 PM
Irene said...: Beth, I hope that those B-earning freshmen at least moaned about how *hard* they tried.; 7/29/11, 1:53 PM
jamboree said...: Yes, it is extraordinary. It's depressing.

A lot of the kind people I know now had religious parents even if they are not religious themselves anymore. Organized religion had many flaws and hypocrisies, but it did *focus* the adherent on kindness (along with guilt) once a week or so. This is especially sticky with childhood training.

Now there is nothing to take it's place. It stays alive for a few generations in a vague, amorphous way that seems "natural" and then dies out to the greater demands of capitalism, competition in the marketplace, self-promotion, etc.

WV: Dying RI; 7/29/11, 2:44 PM
Fred4Pres said...: He is a very nice young man. Good job. Unlike this...person who steals the ball from the little kid.; 7/29/11, 4:24 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Greedy broad steals ball from little girl.; 7/29/11, 5:08 PM